by S. C. Ransom
“Hi,” I said, trying to sound brisk. “How are you feeling now?” He sat up, stretching out his shoulders and back, and I had to look away before I went completely beetroot.
“Back’s a bit stiff,” he said. “Feels as if I’ve been sleeping on a stone floor.”
He caught my eye and smiled, tapping his palm down on the smooth rock beneath his thin sheet. As he looked down at the stone he stopped suddenly.
“Um, Lily, I don’t seem to be wearing my shirt. Any chance of getting it back?”
I scrambled up quickly so he couldn’t see my cheeks, which were burning.
“It’s just over here. We had to take it off to sponge you down, keep you cool. Sorry.”
He took the shirt from my outstretched hand. “Hey, don’t apologise. I don’t remember too much. What happened?”
I was working out where to start when Aria leapt in.
“You got the sickness, Will, the one that kills our babies. You got an infected cut, probably from something that bit you. It’s really dangerous for people who aren’t immune.”
She moved over and sat down next to him The two of them looked so comfortable together, and I could feel myself welling up. I didn’t want to cry – he was getting better, it was all good, and I had to focus on that.
“I remember being in the big room,” he said, “then it all gets a bit hazy. I had a strange dream about you, Lily. I thought you might have escaped.”
“She volunteered to go up and get the medicine to save you,” said Aria. “Without her you’d be dead by now.”
“Really? Wow, Lily, thank you.”
He turned towards me, but I looked away.
“You’d have done the same for any of us,” I said, shrugging as I busied myself arranging the medicine boxes in the bag.
“So where exactly did all those come from?”
I glanced towards the opening into the corridor. I still didn’t know who was out there, and I couldn’t risk exposing Nan to anyone else.
“I’ll tell you later; it’s not important. What’s good is that you’re well and that they now have something to give to the babies.”
At that point there was a brief commotion outside in the corridor, and the Farmer swept into the room, followed by Mason and Lance, and three other men I’d not seen before. Behind them were several women. Within seconds the place was packed, and I was glad that Aria had suggested getting everything together – we were in danger of getting trampled. Will and I turned so that we were facing the crowd.
“We should have run the minute you woke,” I whispered to Will from behind my hand. “I’m not sure I like the look of this.”
As I spoke the Farmer looked Will up and down.
“Are you fully recovered?” he demanded.
“Much better than I was, thank you.”
There was a hushed silence as everyone waited to hear what the Farmer was going to say.
“Where is the other? Bring her here.”
The crowd parted as if it had been unzipped, and Aria was nudged forward. Someone got hold of my arm too, thrusting me forward so hard that I nearly dropped the carrier bag.
With a brief glance at Aria the Farmer turned his back and started walking towards the door, scattering the crowd of women at the back who were peering over the men’s shoulders, trying to get a glimpse of Will.
“Bring the girls to my rooms,” he called over his shoulder as he swept out.
Mason and Lance took Aria and me by the arms and led us back down the corridor to the fancier rooms we had been in the day before. I craned my neck as we walked but I couldn’t see Will.
“Are they bringing Will?” I whispered to Aria when we were close enough to speak. “Do you think that he’ll be OK?”
She shrugged, her face white and her eyes full of fear. I had been feeling quite confident that I could talk us out of the mess, now that Will was OK, but seeing her face all my bravado deserted me. She looked as if she was on her way to a firing squad.
The sick taste is back in my mouth. There’s no way that the Farmer is going to let us all go, not when he needs Feeders. Lily is clutching the bag of medicines, the only thing that stands between her and the end. The Farmer sweeps ahead of us into his personal chamber and sits in his special chair behind the desk. We stand facing him. I look at Lily, who is still looking around frantically. Dane and Will are not with us.
I want to see his face again before the end. Whatever deal Lily thinks she’s negotiated, there’s no way they are letting me go. I’m done for. Lily seems confident, though, as she stands there, facing the Farmer.
We wait, the blood pounding in my ears. The Farmer opens his book before looking up at Lily.
“How can we be sure it was your medicine that cured him?”
Lily stands up a little straighter.
“No one can be sure that it was the antibiotics. But Aria and Carita believed that Will was as good as dead before I gave him the medicine.”
Lily turns to look at me so I nod quickly, not daring to speak myself.
“And how do we know that it will be the same for the children?”
“I gave Carita some medicine for Reilly. Has he improved?” asks Lily. She pauses, but there is no answer. “Look, I’ve kept my side of the bargain. I’ve brought you medicines you couldn’t get for yourselves and saved my friend. The three of us should be free to go.”
“The three of you?”
“Of course. Me, Aria and Will.” She hesitates and looks around. “Where is Will?”
The Farmer puts up his hand to silence her.
“Enough. Show me the medicine.”
Lily hesitates for a fraction of a second before walking forward with her bag. Then she reaches into it and starts pulling out the packets, transferring them into the crook of her arm.
“OK, so what we have here is a whole range of amoxycillin, in different formulations. Some of them are branded, others are generic, and obviously the dosage varies. There’s tablets, filled capsules and some bottles of the powder for the paediatric suspension. Those need reconstituting with the appropriate amount of water. We’ve also got an emergency treatment for anaphylactic shock.”
She sounds as if she is talking in code, and as she talks she’s piling up the boxes in her arm, creating a tottering mound.
“And to be really effective you also need a good paediatric analgesic such as paracetamol, and that’s here. I need to be careful with some of that as it’s pre-diluted in glass bottles and I don’t want to drop them.”
She sets the bottles on the table, then stops and looks at the Farmer.
“All clear then? Here they are.”
He stares at her.
“And how exactly do they all work?”
“I’ve just explained all that. Now, where is my friend?”
“You’ll get your friend when I get my information.”
“I’ve told you everything I’m going to. When Will is back here I might remember a bit more.”
There is a silence in the room. No one has ever spoken to the Farmer like that. I see his knuckles whiten, then he reaches for one of the bottles on the table. He glances at the label and puts it down again.
Everyone is still, waiting, then Lily steps forward and drops all the cardboard packets on the desk. They sit in a pile between her and the Farmer. The seconds seem to last forever.
“Bring the boy!” he commands.
Lily continues to stand there, making no effort to clear up the boxes. We wait, listening, and finally there is the sound of hurrying feet. Moments later, Dane and Will appear in the room. My heart leaps as I see him and I heave a huge but silent sigh of relief that both of them seem all right.
“You OK?” he mouths to Lily.
She nods. “You too?”
He looks at me and I nod as well. Dane is leaning against the wall, as if he doesn’t care what’s going on, but he keeps glancing over at us. No one speaks. The Farmer sits back in his chair.
“Continue,” he ord
ers, waving an arm in the direction of the medicines.
Lily picks up the first packet.
“I’m going to need a pen and paper.”
The Farmer looks towards Dane, who is closest to the door. “Paper then, and quickly. It’s time to get this finished.”
Lily flicks a quick glance at me, and then at Will. I see her hand is shaking. What does the Farmer mean?
After a few minutes Dane reappeared and handed me a lined pad of paper and a cheap biro.
“Write down what we need to know,” commanded the Farmer.
I started working my way through the packets. Using my best, clear handwriting I made a list of the different types of antibiotic, most of which were just varying brands of amoxycillin. I couldn’t believe that all the stuff Nan used to go on about had sunk in enough to be useful. Then I wrote down exactly what we’d done for Will, and what they ought to do for a baby. As I wrote I was conscious of a couple of the other men in the room edging closer. I froze for a second then realised that they were just watching me put pen to paper. When I had finished, I straightened up. The Farmer was looking at me too.
“None of this will be of any use to anyone who can’t read. Please make sure they know what to do.”
He said nothing as I handed the pad and pen to Dane along with the medicines, which I’d repacked in the bag as I went. As I stepped back next to Will the Farmer relaxed further into his chair, placing his elbows on the arms and tenting his fingers under his chin.
“So, we have the medicine we need, and you have saved your friend. Your time here is done.”
“Does that mean we can go?” I asked, incredulous.
He gave a sharp incline of his head.
“Thank you, but I’m not going anywhere without Aria,” I said, folding my arms. “That was our deal – all three of us, remember?”
The Farmer sighed. “You dare to challenge me again? You are a very foolish girl.” He stood up, and all the people in the room took a step backwards. “There will be no arguments from any of you. Dane, take Aria back to the cells. Mason, escort these two back to the lift. I will join you there shortly.”
“But I can’t leave Aria,” I protested, whipping round in time to see Dane catch her arms up behind her back. She gave me a tiny smile.
“Please go, Lily. You’ve done all you can, and now we have medicines. The Breeders will be forever grateful.”
“Enough!” called the Farmer with an edge of steel in his voice. “Dane, take her away now.”
“No!”
I stretched out to reach Aria but Mason grabbed me and held me back. Dane led Aria to the door. For a moment her slim frame was silhouetted between the heavy drapes.
“Goodbye, Lily. Thank you for everything.”
And then she was gone.
I found myself staring at the empty doorframe, a hollow feeling in my chest as I fought down the rising panic. What were they going to do to her? I glanced sideways at Will, trying to gauge if he was up for a fight, but he still looked exhausted. The sound of Aria’s footsteps faded.
“What’s going on?” he asked in an undertone as we turned back round to face the Farmer. “Do you think…”
“I don’t know,” I answered out of the side of my mouth. “I really don’t.”
As I spoke the Farmer lifted his hand.
“Silence. Take these two to the lift.”
Mason, who still held my arm, tightened his grip and started manoeuvring me towards the door.
“But Aria…” I began, trying to turn back. Will grabbed me by the arm and helped lead me out.
“Shh! Come on, let’s get out of here before they change their minds.”
“What? Are you just going to leave her? Aren’t you going to fight?” As I spoke, Mason continued hauling on my arm. Will was only just able to keep pace behind us. He looked quite white again. As our eyes met he raised his eyebrows and nodded towards Mason, then lifted his finger to his lips.
“Oh, I mean, yes, there’s no point,” I blustered loudly, hoping that Mason wouldn’t realise that Will and I were having quite a different conversation.
“What’s your plan?” I mouthed at him as we marched down another endless tunnel.
“Secret weapon,” he mouthed back, smiling.
We reached a big crossroads in the tunnel. Air blew across our path from the larger tunnel coming from the right and Will stopped dead in the middle of the junction. Mason dragged me a few paces further on before he realised that Will had stopped.
“Come on,” Mason growled. “You’re going up. You don’t want to be late for the lift.”
Will turned round so that his back was to the wind, then raised one hand to his mouth before producing an ear-splitting whistle.
Mason turned around in anger. “What’d you think you’re doing, disturbing everyone like that? You’re lucky it wasn’t rest time or it’d be right back to the Farmer for you.” He let go of my arm but shoved me in the back, forcing me down the tunnel ahead of him. “Come on, I’ve got better things to do than this.”
Will stayed still for a moment, scanning down the tunnels, but nothing happened.
Mason stopped and went back to him. “I’m supposed to get you two to the lift. Don’t you want to leave?”
As he spoke I could see Will clenching his fists and rising up slightly on to the balls of his feet. He was going to try and fight Mason.
“Will, no, you’re not fit enough!” I called as he dropped into a boxing stance.
Mason stopped dead and crossed his arms with a sigh. “Look, lad, you have to come with me. There’s nothing here for you now. It’s time to go.”
Will started to move around him as if he was looking for the best angle of attack when we heard footsteps. Three Community men appeared out of the mouth of the main tunnel, stopping dead as they saw us. One began to laugh.
“Come on, Mason, are you going to fight the boy? One solid blow and he’ll be down.”
Will looked around then dropped his arms, outnumbered. “OK, you win. Just take good care of them, won’t you?”
Mason hustled him up next to me and we started walking again.
“Them?” I asked in a low voice. “What on earth were you planning on doing?”
“I hoped that Foggy might come running. He’d scare these guys, and then we could go and get Aria. We can’t leave them both behind!”
Foggy. With everything else going on I had forgotten about him again. But I knew that Will really loved him and would be horrified at the thought of leaving him down with the Community.
“I really thought he’d come if I whistled,” he said, his voice breaking. “What am I going to tell Mum and Dad? We’ve had Foggy since I was ten. He’s a member of the family.”
“Do you think he’ll have made his way out already? It’s possible, right?”
“Possible but not very likely,” he said, looking back over this shoulder. “I mean, how would he have got past the Crop? They’d make mincemeat of him.”
“I’m not so sure,” I said. “When we were up there the things definitely backed off, and I thought that was because of Foggy. He must be really frightening to whatever they are. I guess they’ve never seen a dog before.”
As I spoke I realised that I could be quite wrong if what Dane told me was true. If I was the Farmer’s daughter, perhaps they didn’t attack because I was there and unwittingly controlling them. If that was the case then Foggy would never have survived alone. I tried not to think of that horrible smell as the Crop advanced, of my fear that, whatever it was, it was about to finish us off.
“And without Foggy,” Will continued, “we’ve got no hope of rescuing Aria. How can we live with ourselves if we leave her behind?”
“In here.” Mason’s voice cut across us.
We had reached the lobby by the lift.
This time it wasn’t so dark and I was able to see the lift more clearly. It was entirely ancient, with every bit of exposed metal rusted. The floor was the least rusty-looking
part, which was a relief. I turned to Will as we were hustled inside – he looked white and strained.
“We can’t leave them, Lily, we just can’t!”
But it was clear we didn’t have any choice. Three of the men were standing in a loose semicircle around the lift, and Mason was standing guard by the archway into the main tunnel. We would never get past them all.
“You’re right,” I whispered very quietly in his ear. “We’ll just have to find a way to get back down again.”
He nodded once but didn’t turn to look at me. Snatching a glance at his profile I could see the tears glistening in his eyes. Reaching for his hand I gave it a quick squeeze, hoping that it might comfort us both. He squeezed it back and then dropped it as the men suddenly stood up straight. The Farmer swept round the corner and each of the men stepped back slightly, dropping their eyes. He stopped in front of the old brass plate on the wall outside and stuck his key in the lock. There was the sound of clicking as the key turned, and then the Farmer stepped into the lift with us, pocketing the key as he went.
One of the men pulled the heavy outer grille across the gap, and as soon as it clicked into place the lift groaned into life. Far above us I could hear the machinery whirr into action and the lift lurched upwards, making us stagger. The horrendous noise of the lift scraping against the wall hurt my ears, and I could see Will wincing too.
I knew what we had to do. As soon as the lift got us to the top, and we got out of the warehouse, we were going to go straight to the police. It was the only sensible choice, and the only way left for us to save Aria. If we could persuade them really quickly then hopefully the Farmer wouldn’t have time to find her and drag her back up to the Crop.
I was a bit surprised that the Farmer hadn’t considered we might do that, and the more I thought about it, the odder it seemed. It was hard to think though, with the awful scraping noise. I glanced over at Will, who had his fingers in his ears. The Farmer seemed completely oblivious to it, watching the stone wall race past, and as I watched too, the hair on the back of my neck started to stand up. Something was badly wrong.